


You Walked In And My Heart Went Boom

by orphan_account



Series: 'Short', Sweet, & Simple [3]
Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Prompt: We catch the same bus and train every morning and I noticed because you were cute.Tyler's pretty gay for the new regular on his bus, and really wants to ask him out on a date. Alternately, it's 3.5K of Tyler thinking Josh is adorable.





	You Walked In And My Heart Went Boom

**Author's Note:**

> So I set myself the goal to write a lil fic under 2k... I tried?
> 
> Also I'm Australian, so I have no idea how American transport was and the internet was useless so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Tyler first noticed him because one, he had neon pink hair. Two, he literally sprinted alongside the side of Tyler's bus, viciously trying to hail the driver and get him to stop, which was admittedly quite a funny sight. And three, he was adorable. 

He had stumbled onto the bus, looking slightly winded and face flushed, proceeding to buy his ticket without looking the driver in the eye. He avoided eye contact with anyone on the bus and sat at the first seat. Tyler ended up staring at the back of his pink hair for the remainder of his journey, zoning out a bit due to the early hours. 

Tyler had been catching the six AM bus for a year now and couldn't recall ever seeing the man before. Even if he had only just dyed his hair, Tyler definitely wouldn't have forgotten a face like that. He was way too attractive to forget. 

By the end of the route, Tyler had resigned himself to the fact that he would never see Pink again, the bus ride being a one off. But, Tyler could physically feel the exhilaration build inside him as they both got off at the outside of the station and walked in. He tried not to break out into a grin when they both walked into the same carriage.

Tyler had no idea why he was so glad that Pink was catching the train. Was it because he was cute and Tyler wanted to stare at him more? He chalked it up to being one of those weird infatuations you get when you see someone really attractive and know you'll never see them again. The attraction to beautiful things that don't last. Like bubbles before they pop, flowers in a vase, or a sunset; they're beautiful, but it won't last for long, so you watch it before it disappears, trying to remember its beauty. 

Tyler pulled out his phone, not wanting to be that person, the creepy one that stared at someone on the train. He continued to scroll through various phone apps, still hyper aware of Pink. Was this creepy? He felt kind of creepy. But everyone did it, right? Everyone had seen someone attractive and started to imagine a series of scenarios with them?

Because that was what Tyler had been doing since the train left the platform. His mind running over multiple ways he could go up to the attractive stranger and ask for his number. Or strike up a conversation. Or even just get his name.

But that all stayed in his head, because Tyler was one part a coward and two parts a normal human being, who knew going up to strangers on public transport was kind of strange.

So when Pink got off at the stop before him, he mentally said goodbye and moved on with his life. Only thinking about him again once more that day when a girl walked into his work with pink hair.

 

 

Tyler had tried really hard not to raise his hopes when Pink was at the bus stop again the next day. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe he was only catching the bus that week. Maybe he's going to be a new regular, his traitorous mind thought. 

But regardless, Pink was walking onto his bus and buying a ticket. Tyler subtly shuffled around on his seat to get a better look as Pink took his spot in a front row, still avoiding looking at the back of the bus.

Tyler swore to himself that he'd sit closer to the front the next day, in the hopes that maybe Pink would notice him. He switched between looking out his window, thinking about how to start a conversation with Pink, and actually just looking at Pink as he stared out the window.

Once the bus arrived at the station, Tyler made his way in as fast as he could by habit, missing the morning train one too many times to be lax about it. Luckily, Tyler was one of the first on board the carriage and managed to get a good seat in the corner, where he could angle away from the passenger to his left and not have to fear about people looking over his shoulder and reading his phone.

The cart slowly filled up and to Tyler's disappointment, none of them had pink hair. Just as Tyler was sure he wouldn't see Pink for the rest of the day, a head of coloured hair ran down the side of the window, face looking into the train. Tyler made eye contact with Pink for one second before he turned away and kept running, almost skidding into the carriage as he took a harsh left through the doors.

Passengers stared at him as he took deep breaths, trying to even out his breathing. He gave them a sheepish smile. 

Entertainment over and curiosity filled, everyone ignored Pink and went back to their phones, books, or resumed their faux-sleep, eyes closed and head tilted back.

Pink hooked his arm around a nearby poll to stabilise himself before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of headphones. He slipped them on with ease and fiddled with his phone for a second. Pink slipped his phone back into his pocket and closed his eyes, a look of peace washing over him as bobbed his head to it slowly.

Tyler wanted to know what music he was listening to, if they had any common interests, if Pink wanted to listen to music together. Maybe Tyler would show him some of the stuff he made. Actually, Tyler's music wasn't really first date material. He kept his questions and thoughts inside his mind and later watched as Pink left the train.

 

 

 

Pink had been catching the same bus and train as Tyler for two weeks. They had fallen into the habit of giving each other a quick smile if their eyes met on the bus. After Tyler began to sit closer to the front, he was hard to miss, so smiles were an everyday thing. They managed to wake Tyler up faster than his coffee ever could. 

So realistically, Tyler should just talk to him. They had recognised that each other existed, and sat fairly close on the bus, and sometimes they would make eye contact again on the train and Pink would smile at himsomemore. But was that weird? Should Tyler wait for some opportunity when it wouldn't be random to talk to him. 

These thoughts plagued him as he made his way onto the carriage, Pink sitting opposite him like clockwork. The carriage was a little less packed today, Wednesday morning removing all possible passengers who were going into the city for fun, just leaving tired workers.

Pink was doing his usual, stare around the cabin then zone off while gazing out the window behind Tyler, until a soft baby’s cry broke his attention. Tyler glanced up at the sound as well and watched as Pink looked over at the baby, maybe toddler. Old enough to have an impressive head of hair.

It was in a pram, playing with a soft toy as the mother watched on. From the corner of his eye, Tyler saw Pink make a face at the baby, cheeks filled up with air and eyes scrunched up. He looked adorable. Silly. But adorable.

Giggles came from the pram immediately, Pink completely capturing the baby’s attention. The mum stared at Pink, probably trying to assess if the man was any danger to her child, but watching a 24 year old (?) with faded pink hair stick out his tongue really removed any possible fears.

“You're good with kids.” the mum said, slight accent to her voice. 

Josh looked up at her after the comment, “Ah yeah, I have a lot of younger cousins, and nieces and nephews, and my siblings were a bit younger. I guess I'm used to it by now.”

“She likes you,” she said, tugging a bit of string out of the child’shair, careful not to pull on the tight curls. “Her name is Atiya.”

“She's adorable.” Pink said just as the girl laughed and tossed her toy. He quickly ducked forward and grabbed it before it hit the ground. “Whoopsies. Don't think the grounds the most hygienic place for that.”

He shook the small stuffed animal before handing it back. The toddler took it as an invitation to begin a game of ‘Toss the Doll’, testing Pink’s reflexes as he kept catching the doll, wiggling it in her face before handing it back.

Tyler thought he just fell a little in love. That was too adorable for Tyler's lovesick heart.

 

 

 

Well that was new. Pink was now Red. And Red looked good. Really good. Pink had been soft, and adorable, and made Tyler want to cuddle up to him. Red sparked a new type of feeling within him. Don't get Tyler wrong, he still wanted to cuddle up against Red, but if Red wanted more, Tyler would definitely not refuse.

When Pink wore black, he looked soft and stylish. Red wearing black made Tyler hot under the collar.

Could Tyler possibly get a boner just from looking at Red? Was this a higher power testing his restraint? Because it was working.

Red gave him his daily smile, and was it the red hair or Tyler's imagination, but it looked a little less innocent than usual. And okay, Red was winking at him, that was definitely not Tyler’s imagination. 

Tyler watched as Red sat in front of him, like he hadn't just destroyed Tyler's existence in one simple action. Tyler was in shock for the rest of the trip, the moment stuck in his head on repeat.

He moved on autopilot as he made his way through the station, walking towards the train. Tyler only came back to the present when he realised Red was about to walk through the doors at the same time as him. They both paused waiting for the other to go first.

“Go ahead,” Red motioned for Tyler to walk through the doors, which he did, stumbling through them in an almost daze like state. 

He heard a light laugh as he moved through the cabin, settling down in his usual seat area. Red making his way to the seats opposite him, as per usual. 

They met eyes for for a second and Red gave him a smile that kind of blew Tyler out of the water, his teeth slightly biting into his lip and looking up at him from beneath his eyelashes, looking almost sheepish but still coy.

He so knew what he was doing, no one would do that without the intention to flirt, right? Tyler smiled back, hopefully in his most inviting manner. They stayed staring at each other for a minute before the train started and broke their concentration.

Tyler went back to his phone, sneaking glances at Red, catching him looking in return. Tyler's heart was racing with exhilaration the whole time, happiness bursting in him every time they met eyes.

 

 

 

Alright. 

Okay.

Alright.

Sure.

That totally wasn't fair.

How was Tyler meant to go about his morning routine when Red walked onto the bus with a literal suit and tie on.

It was a quarter past six in the morning and Tyler was not meant to be having a sexuality crisis over Red’s shoulders in a suit. 

Oh no, it was not fair to humanity for someone's ass to be that good as they sit down, especially on slightly dodgy public transport.

Maybe Tyler had been thinking about this the wrong way. This wasn't a test from some divine being, this was a blessing. Tyler had done something decent in his life and he was being rewarded with pure beauty every morning.

If he stared at Red’s ass as they made their way onto the train, no one but him had to know.

Tyler was pulled from his mental worshipping of Red when the train stopped and a flock of old people waddled into the carriage.

Immediately, Red rose from his seat to offer it to an elderly citizen. 

Oh, come on. He's not allowed to be adorable, sexy and a decent person. That's not fair. Especially when he's in a seat. Couldn't he be nice when he wasn't looking like pure sex on legs?

Tyler then remembered that Red offered his seat to people a lot. Damn.

On the upside, the material of the jacket was catching on Red’s arm as he held onto the bar. On the down side, the material of the jacket was catching on Red’s arm and Tyler couldn't look away.

The train did its usual tumble as it passed one of the sharper corners and Red stumbled down a bit until he stopped basically in front of Tyler.

Red grabbed onto a handle and spread his legs to ground himself, becoming immovable and ready for the next sudden turn.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, this placed a certain part of him directly eye level with Tyler. 

What did Tyler do in this situation?

He could not look straight forward, that was definitely not an option. He couldn't look up because what if he accidentally made eye contact with Red, and it would lol like he was continuously staring at him. And looking down put his head closer to Red’s… area.

He settled to looking to the side and awkwardly staring at an old lady's hair. It was nice. Very healthy for her age.

“Sorry, I don't mean to get up in your space.” Came a voice from above.

That meant Red was talking to him. Red was talking to him. Tyler.

Red was talking to Tyler.

Red was initiating conversation with Tyler and Tyler should probably reply, “Uh, no problem. I get it. It's a bit packed.”

Tyler went to do a general wave to indicate the cramped carriage and accidentally rubbed his hand against Red’s upper thigh.

“Oh dear,” Tyler started, frantically trying to apologise. “That was a complete accident. I'm not trying to feel you up.”

“It's fine,” Red said, giving him a reassuring smile. “I’m a bit close anyway.”

You could be closer, the bad part of Tyler's brain thought. “I’m used to it. It's one of the cons of public transport.”

“You catch my morning bus, don't you?” Red leaned down a little lower as the train screeched along the rails. “And the Tuesday Thursday afternoon buses?” 

He remembered and recognised Tyler. Red, the beautiful human that Tyler had been crushing on for almost a month now, recognised him. The rational part of his mind reminded him that he had been smiling at him for a month, it wasn't that big of a deal that he remembered him.

“Yeah,” what else could Tyler say that wouldn't reveal how gay he was for Red. “The 6AM one.”

“That bus is way too early for me.” Red said with a smile. “I have to sprint to catch it half the time.”

“I know.” 

Dammit, that sounded creepy.

“I mean,” Tyler started, trying to reduce the mess he had made of the conversation, “It's kind of hard to miss. With the hair and everything.”

Okay, that wasn't much better. But it was something, and that was all Tyler could do right now.

“Yeah, true.” Red ran his hand through his hair, jacket rising with his arm to reveal a white shirt tucked into pants, a little slip of skin peeking out from his hipbone where he hasn't stuffed the shirt in properly. Creepy thoughts, Tyler. His eyes are up there. “I kind of hate it at times, but I promised myself I would keep it.”

“What do you mean?” Tyler thought the colour was awesome. Made him stand out even more amongst the ordinary crowd.

“I don't really like people looking at me,” That must suck, seeing how attractive Red was. People must look at him all the time. “It makes me anxious. And I suck at talking to people. So I thought of doing exposure therapy type stuff.”

“Huh?” Tyler cocked his head slightly to the side.

“Well, y'know. If I dye my hair, people will stare at me and eventually I'd have to get used to it, right?” Tyler nodded in agreement. It sounded like decent logic. “And where are most people? Shops, trains, and buses.”

“So you catch the bus and train to get comfortable with people looking at you?” Tyler felt slightly bad about the amount of times he had stared off at Red.

“Yeah.” Josh shrugged, “I can't really hang around malls all day, so I just take public transport to work.” 

“Is it working?” 

“I guess,” Red gave him a smile that almost bordered on cheeky, “I still notice people looking at me, but I guess some I don't mind as much now.”

“Oh,” So he totally knew Tyler was watching him then. There goes Tyler's idea about subtlety.

Red tapped a knee against the side of Tyler's leg. “If it makes you feel better, I noticed you as well. On the train the first day. Didn't realise you caught the same bus as me.”

“Ah yeah, I used to sit up the back.” Was this flirting?

Josh did this little lip biting thing that would look pretentious on anyone else, but on him just seemed adorable. He also had really nice teeth. “Any reason you moved to the front?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I can think of at least one reason,”  
This was totally flirting. Tyler was flirting with Red. Speaking of Red. “I'm Tyler by the way.”

“Oh sweet, that's a cool name.” Tyler didn't really think so. Tyler was kind of an average name. But the compliment still made his skin tingle. “Yeah, I'm. Oh no,”

Tyler noticed they had come to Red’s stop a second after he did.

“Sorry dude, I'll talk to you tomorrow.” Was the last thing Red said before scrambling off the train.

If Tyler wasn't totally crushing on Red before, he definitely was after that. 

 

 

 

Red had become Yellow, and Tyler never thought his smile could get any brighter or happier. Tyler was wrong. So wrong. When Yellow gave him his daily, crinkly eyed smile, Tyler was pretty sure he died. 

Time of death: 06:17

Place of decease: a dodgy bus going through backstreet Columbus. 

Reason of Death: sunshine boy and his heart stopping smile.

“Hey, sorry for running off yesterday,” Sunshine boy was kind of jittery as he sat down in the seat next to Tyler, thigh bopping up and down against his. He had very attractive thighs. Very attractive thighs in very skinny jeans. “Couldn't miss my stop and everything.”

“Yeah, that's totally fine.” Tyler said, still staring at his thighs. Don't objectify the sunshine boy, Tyler's mind supplied. But he's so pretty.

“I didn't get to say before, but I'm Josh.” Yellow said, sticking his hand out.

Tyler took it and shook it. “I'm Tyler.” 

Josh hand was warm against his and was firm as he squeezed Tyler's. “Yeah you told me. Yesterday. Before I ran off.”

“Oh well in case you forgot.” Tyler didn't actually want to let go off Josh's hand, but they had already been shaking hands for an abnormal amount of time.

Josh ran his thumb across Tyler's knuckles before pulling back. “I wouldn't forget.” 

Tyler was probably going to be sent to an early grave if Josh kept grinning at him like that. “Cool.”

Okay, Tyler. Here's your chance ask him out.

“Do you want to coffee me?” Tyler’s words tumbled out of his mouth like bricks, heavy and dangerous.

“Pardon?”

Tyler only realised that he had messed up his question after seeing Josh’s confusion. Dammit.

“Um. Do you… want to.” Tyler took in a deep breath, “get coffee with me? Or not coffee, if that's not your thing.”

“Yeah, that would.” Josh did a little nod, “That would be great.”

“Cool, my stop is the one after yours on the train, so our work is probably pretty close. Would you want to get lunch?” Tyler was beginning to get more confident the longer he stared at Josh’s anticipated face.

“Yeah.” Josh bit his lip gently to try and contain a smile. “Could I get your number? And then we can organise it?”

Tyler nodded and hurried to pull his phone out of his bag, ripping his headphones out of the jack after they got caught on some miscellaneous items. 

They quickly exchanged numbers and Tyler still couldn't believe it was happening, he was going on a date with Pink/Red/Yellow.

“It took me forever to try and talk to you, y’know.” Josh said, voice lowered. “You were really cute and I wanted to talk to you but I thought that might be creepy.”

“I was the same,” Tyler confessed, “You probably caught me staring at you all the time.”

Josh gave him a smile reminiscent of their usual morning grin. “Yeah, but I didn't mind.” 

And didn't that say something; the man who felt anxious with people looking at him enjoyed Tyler's staring. Tyler smiled in return and was kind of glad that he caught the bus. Despite the hellish wake up, he got to meet Josh.

**Author's Note:**

> This is lowkey inspired by the really cute girl who sometimes catches the same train as me. Her freckles are adorable.
> 
> I'm on tumblr @ diddlydundidit if you wanna say hi


End file.
